Indications from the Inclusive Friends Association suggests incidents of discrimination, stigma and stereotypes are responsible for the silence culture among survivors of various forms of violence against persons with disabilities. IFA Executive Director, Grace Jerry gave the indication at the third cohort fellowship programme of the Amplifying Voices Project held on Abuja. She attributed the gesture to reasons why cases of disability based violence are mostly under reported, thereby rendering survivors voiceless and invisible. However in efforts to change the narrative, the IFA initiated a campaign to build the capacity of youth advocates across the geo political zones to spotlight and address gender based violence. Some of the findings from the engagement the includes ignorance on the part of PWDs and their families on what amounts to violence among others. They further recommended the need to build capacity of law enforcement agencies on disability issues among several interventions as possible solution to the challenge. On the way forward, the group wants more robust collaboration with government at all levels, development partners to eradicate incidents of gender based violence.
